Answers, finally! Tonight's episode of LOST was the kind when you get upset realizing there's only ten minutes left. Some thoughts, in no particular order, complete with SPOILERS if you didn't watch:
- Great use of the opening. It's the first time I can remember where we're tricked into believing we're on the island (as opposed to believing the scene is taking place off the island, when in fact we're actually on it - the 2nd season premiere of Desmond in the hatch being one example). Right from the beginning we learn that Ben Linus is a liar - he was not born on the island, contrary to his longstanding claim.
- There's obviously some grumblings about Ben's leadership amongst the Others, as evidenced by their ignoring his plea to stop Locke from beating Mikhail. Richard Alpert in particular, seems to be playing Locke against Ben. Richard is the Other who gave Locke the file on Sawyer last week.
- Speaking of Richard, what the hell was he doing in the middle of the jungle to greet a young, Harry Potter looking Ben? He appears to be the same age, except for his longer hair. Why hasn't he aged like Ben? I did like his line to young Ben about having to be very, very patient. He might as well have been talking to the audience.
- We heard the whispers again. Another mystery of the island yet to be illuminated. At least we know now it has nothing to do with Dharma. Speaking of Dharma, I hope this episode doesn't mean the end of that storyline. It's still unclear how they ended up there, what exactly they were doing, how they were able to find the island, etc.
- Add Ben to the long list of Losties who've had Daddy issues: Sun, Hurley, Jack, Locke.
- Jacob is obviously no ordinary person. If you watch the scene in "his" cabin again slowly, there's a part where the camera is focused on the rocking chair, which is empty. It then pans left, then right, back to the chair - only this time their is a body in it. However, it's heavily shadowed. I'm sure a picture will surface online shortly.
- The show seems to be moving beyond the story of the Others, and setting us up for the larger mystery of what is the island - and who the island's natives are (or "hostiles" as Dharma called them). This will likely be the major plot line of Season 4.
- I hope John Locke isn't dead. I can't say I like him, but he's now by far the most interesting character of the original castaways. He has balls of steel. Last season he insisted on not touching the button, only to have the hatch completely implode and come close to destroying the world. Now he insists on being led to see the mysterious Jacob, despite Ben's ominous warnings. The scene inside the cabin was wonderfully creepy - particularly Ben's "is he talking to himself?" part. Perhaps only those wearing the Emperor's New Clothes can see this Jacob...
- Back to the death thing - Richard in the flashback asked some interesting questions about Ben's dead mother - particularly, did she die on the island? Perhaps this is a clue as to how one might see the dead on the island (Jack's dad, Eko's brother....am I missing any others?)
- Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the co-executive producers of Lost, had this to say about the character of Jacob: "We meet Jacob — the elusive, unseen, presumed leader of the Others — for the first time. And this is a character who is every bit as significant to our universe as the Emperor was to the Star Wars universe — a character that you didn't get to meet until Return of the Jedi but was referred to all through the preceding films. Jacob is a guy who is going to have a very significant, ongoing sort of story value in our show. "
- And this about the upcoming finale on May 24th: "The finale clearly sets up season four of the show, and hopefully in doing so, people will see there is still a lot of storytelling left in Lost and will feel really good about the 48 number {the number of episodes remaining in the series]....And it will make you realize that the house you are standing in actually has a lot more rooms than you thought when you came into it."
- Below is that picture of Jacob I was referring to earlier...
4 comments:
I officially had the chills last night when I caught the glimpse of a real Jacob sitting in a heretofore empty chair. Weird, wild stuff.
They certainly seemed to have opened the show up to go in numerous directions, which has definitely livened things up. Other than that, I went to sleep last night thinking "What the hell just happened?". I'm still not sure. Bookie D's thoughts and recaps usually rattle me out of my slumber. I'm looking forward to it.
Funny--I am usually the one who looks at each episode of LOST through rose-colored glasses, only to hear responses from Harris and others that the episode was nothing special. Maybe I missed the subtext, but I found last night to be very disappointing overall. Yes, we learned a few things--(see below), but with the build-up to last night's episode, I was expecting some real answers, and I don't think the show delivered. MTINPO:
1. What we did learn: (i) As Harris (and Ben) mentioned, Ben lied about being born on the island. He was born "not in Portland" and arrived at the Island at around age 10 or so. I was curious about what Ben and his a-hole dad did for 10 years before Dad joined the Dharma gang with his hippy friend. (ii) Richard seems to actually be a native of the Island, and apparently he doesn't age (or he had offspring who looks exactly like him), (iii) Ben was instrumental in the "Purge" of the Dharma Initiative by the Others/Hostiles, (iv) Roger Workman was Ben's Dad (good casting of a That Guy in this role--was he That Guy from Get Shorty who Ray Bones shoots in Harry Zim's office?); Dharma had a fleet of hippy VW Vans, and the beer that Sawyer, Charlie and Jin enjoyed was part of an intended father-son bonding experience between Ben and his Dad and (v) Juliet told Jack about Ben's impending raid, and Jack kept quiet while he "was deciding what to do about it".
2. Re: my disappointment, I guess I was hoping to learn a little more about the Dharma-Era Island, and about Jacob. Yes, I was riveted to my seat during the sequence in Jacob's cabin, but IMO, there was little payoff. I actually thought it might have been cool if Ben was a schitzo who was taking orders from an empty chair in a creepy cabin. It kind of reminded me of A Beautiful Mind.
Instead, I thought we got little in the way of answers about Jacob.
Also, we already knew that there were scientists/hippies inhabiting the Island who lived in Barracks protected by a sonar-security system and that the Dharmas were eventually "purged" by the Others. I guess I wanted to learn a little more about how the operation worked, and, more importantly, what was the specific beef between Dharma and the Hostiles. I expect (hope) that this will be fleshed out at some point.
3. So Ben helped murder the entire Dharma Initiative because his Dad didn't remember his birthday? I mean, other than his A-hole Dad, it seemed like everything else at Camp Dharma was okay for young Ben. He lived in a tropical paradise, received a good education from a hot teacher (the woman in the car who found Ben and his parents on the highway), and even had a girlfriend. What was his problem?
4. Hopefully, we'll find out at what point Ben went from Dharma mole to King of All Others. I guess coldly gassing your own father engenders some respect among the Hostiles. How did they manage to kill off the rest of the Dharmas? Surely some of them must have been manning the various stations, etc. Is there any speculation on the cause of the Hostile's hostility? Why were they shooting at Roger Workman while he's delivering beer and other sundries to the Stations? Is it just about trespassing?
5. Okay, so Jensen and all of us may have been wrong about Ben deliberatly telling Locke about the beach raid and "allowing" him to seal the Juliet tape-recorder. Ben seemed genuinely surprised to find the recorder missing. It also seemed that Richard either screwed up or (more likely) facilitated the whole thing. I can't wait to see what Jack and Juliet have cooked up for those Others! Oh, boy!
6. Do ya think it might have occurred to Locke that Ben could have armed himself for their mysterious journey through the Jungle? I might have frisked the Bug-Eyed Bastard before they left the camp and/or after they left Jacob's cabin (though maybe Locke was too freaked out to remember). Sayid would never have allowed that to happen.
7. Jensen's preview made a big deal about "two words" that will "change everything" about LOST. I can only assume he was referring to "Help me." Is the surprise that Jacob is in some kind of distress and in need of help? Or that he would enlist Locke to help him with anything?
Now that I am thinking about it, I can't believe they killed Locke??!!
Was Ben's daddy-o the homeless guy from that Seinfeld episode to whom Kramer gives a tupperware with Chinese food?
The EW recap (link below) suggests that Jacob is an alternative John Locke. I'm not sure what to make of that. However, I suspect the show is headed towards another Locke-Jack show down. If Locke takes over the Others, and Jack has a successful purge of his own - well, the show can get very interesting.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20038370,00.html
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